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Three innings for three failures is not how Matthew Wade would have planned the start of his summer in Tasmania, but finally, others are beginning to mount a case to take the gloves on November 23.
Wade might be seen as the incumbent, but his form so far this summer is woeful. Three innings isn’t a great sample size, but he scored nine runs in total against the pink ball.
Yesterday, he went from one floundering low to the next.
While the pitch was obviously doing plenty at Blundstone Arena with Wade coming in at 3 for 25, he never looked in control of his innings. The Australian keeper eventually fell for a scratchy nine off 41 balls to the bowling of Luke Feldman.
If there was ever a time for Peter Nevill and Alex Carey, his two rivals for the gloves to stand up, this is it.
Carey mounted half a case in his innings against a Victorian attack featuring former Aussie quick Peter Siddle and bolters Chris Tremain and Scott Boland. South Australia went to stumps at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 6 for 291 which puts it into context, but Carey made a marked improvement on his previous two innings, scoring 36.
Still, you suspect he needs more to force his way to a debut. Nevill, on the other hand, a proven performer at both domestic and international level is likely to be looked on more favourably by the selectors.
Today is shaping up as one of the most important innings Peter Nevill will ever play. He was unceremoniously dumped from the Australian team not that long ago but has a chance to once again mount his case for a spot in the baggy green.
Like the Redbacks, New South Wales had fewer problems batting at Hurstville Oval than the Tigers did, but there was still a reasonably regular fall of wickets throughout the day as the Blues went to stumps on 7 for 254.
David Warner failed with five, while Steve Smith finally got out of his rut, scoring 76. The real story though is the fact that Nevill goes to stumps on 32 not out, batting with the tail and possibly having a chance today to make a statement to the selectors.
If the Blues keeper is to add enough to his overnight score, going past a half-century and steering the Blues to a reasonable tally while batting with the tail, you’d expect the him to win another baggy green.
As it stands though, Wade is hanging on by the skin of his teeth. There is no more margin for error, but at this stage, you’d think he is still holding the gloves – that of course, comes with more opportunities for Wade and Nevill to reverse that order.
When given the gloves though, with Queensland losing five wickets before stumps, Wade took a sharp catch diving forward to dismiss Australian teammate Usman Khawaja. While Khawaja scores 27, his spot at No.3 is secure after a big century against the pink ball last round.
Matt Renshaw isn’t in the same boat. He had another failure to begin his summer, being dismissed for one by Jackson Bird.
After scratching around for 15 balls, he shouldered arms to a shorter ball from Bird and edged behind to Alex Doolan at first slip. The Queenslander has now had three low scores to start the summer and the pressure will only continue to build on him.
Queensland teammate Joe Burns did nothing to help his cause though, only scoring 11. All of those scores must be taken with a grain of salt due to the conditions, but it’s still another blow to the aspirations of Renshaw.
His main challenger for the opening role appears to be Shaun Marsh, who we are likely to see bat today for Western Australia at Hurstville should the weather lurking around Sydney hold off.
While we gained plenty of intel and insight into who might be wicket-keeping for Australia, the same can’t be said for the No.6 position on the first day of Round 2.
With Western Australia in the field for the entirety of the day’s play, only Hilton Cartwright did any bowling, picking up a tidy 1 for 20 off seven overs, which included the wicket of Aussie captain Steve Smith.
Daniel Hughes, who has been touted as a bolter only scored 25, while Moises Henriques was gone to the bowling of Simon Mackin without troubling the scorers.
Glenn Maxwell bowled just two overs against South Australia and like the Western Australian trio of Cartwright, Marcus Stoinis and Mitch Marsh is expected to bat at some point today.
What makes the test so great for the Western Australian trio, along with opener Shaun Marsh is that they are facing the full Australian attack. with Josh Hazlewood returning from injury, he joins Mitchell Starc, Patrick Cummins and Nathan Lyon for the Blues, all of whom have their positions locked in for the first Test.
If any of those batsmen can make a decent contribution, then they will be putting themselves firmly in the drivers seat for a spot on November 23.
Back-up bowlers are also worth talking about though, with Bird taking 2 for 15 before stumps against Queensland. He seems to be the lead option, as he has been in the past to be 12th man, but there are others putting up a fight.
Scott Boland (3/57) and Chris Tremain (2/58) both bowled strongly yesterday, but Nathan Coulter-Nile also put his hand up. Staying in Perth to lead a Western Australian XI against England in their first tour match, he ended Alastair Cook’s day before it started, removing him with the second ball of the innings.
While Coulter-Nile didn’t get any other wickets, the selectors will enjoy the fact he was able to keep the runs down and lead from the front.
The second round of the Sheffield Shield, as well as England’s match against the WA XI continues today from 10:30am (AEDT) and 1:30pm respectively.